Social Impact of Computerisation of Land Records Vinay Thakur1*, D Dutta1, Ganesh Khadanga1, and D.S Venkatesh1 ABSTRACT Government of India has implemented Computeriation of Land Records throughout the country upto the level of Tehsil investing crores of Rupees to arrest the recurring problems of inadequately maintained land record system with prime object to issue of timely and accurate copy of the Record of Rights, to store land data in reliable and easily reproducible format, to provide efficient retrieval of information in graphical and textual format and to develop land database for various developmental and land reforms activities. The Land record project has been implemented in most of the states. Now an impact study has been done to determine the impact of computerization of Land records project in the society -whether it has succeeded in reaching it’s goal. Keywords: ROR, CLR, Land Records 1. Introduction Land Record system has been maintained since time immemorial by successive rulers to extract land revenue which was the principal source of income to their respective States. In erstwhile India, Sher Shah Suri (1540-1545) was the first king to attempt a major improvement with categorization and measurement of land with fixing of crop rates. This was further improved by Mughal Emperor Akbar (1556-1605) where various methods were utilized for determining land class and land revenue. During British Raj, they introduced land administration system to improve their land revenue collection. They established Survey and Settlement offices in various states and started survey & settlement process. But as there were around 500 princely states during British Raj with several states with British’s own administration, an uniform land laws was too difficult to implement throughout the country; instead they strengthen land act to serve local needs which raised inconsistency in maintaining of land records. They introduced various land Acts i.e. Bengal Land Act, Punjab Land Revenue Act, Agra Tenancy Act, Uttar Pradesh Land Revenue Act, Punjab land Revenue Act, Delhi Land Revenue Act, Haryana Land Act, Karnataka Land Revenue Act, AP Land Revenue Act etc. which have been subsequently amended and regulated time to time as per their needs. After independence, India inherited the land records management system from British and adopted with little modification. Understandably, the British system was primarily to “control” the land and “collect revenue” rather than to deliver any social justice or developmental activities. After independence, India has been witnessing massive reforms in all sectors where land resource were one of them. Considerable importance have been given to maintain land resources i.e. land type, ownership details, crops grown, irrigation facility exist, land use, land holding type etc. Also land reforms have been done by acquisition of 1 National Informatics Centre (NIC), CGO Complex, A-Block Lodi Road New Delhi, India * Corresponding Author: (Email: [email protected], Telephone: 91-9868227040, 1124305609) 72 Vinay Thakur et al. / Social Impact of Computerisation of Land Records ceiling surplus land and transferring to landless, issuing of Record of Right to make land holding legal etc. In order to improve land management, Government has decided computerize all land resource data to prevent further manipulation, make it transparent, paving way for issuing instant Record of Right land ownership certificates. They have already invested huge amount in computerization project throughout the country since 1988-89. Now has computerization of Land records succeeded in reaching it’s goal? If yea, what is it’s social impact? The manual land record system Land record system is state subject and hence maintenance of land records is the responsibility of respective state governments. The land records are documented through survey and settlement process. The status of survey and settlement process is not uniform throughout the country i.e. in some states viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya etc are yet to be completed, some states not updated for several decades and some have only updated recently. Usually, respective State government initiates survey and settlement process village wise. Distinct land plots are identified and marked with numbers and recorded their cadastral properties i.e. area, boundaries, land type, land revenue due, crops grown, irrigation facility, land owner etc. in various registers as per formats prescribed by govt. Also map is drawn for each plot with the help of surveyor and recorded. This survey process continues from plot to plot covering the entire village and extended to the neighboring villages and complete for the entire district. After completion of the process, the data so collected and compiled are handed over to the custodian of revenue departments. Traditionally, a few nos of copies of each registers are prepared and stored at different hierarchy level of revenue offices of the district i.e. Tehsil, sub division or district HQ. The village level revenue officials who are knows as Patowari, Mandals or Village Accountant maintain the record of any subsequent updation or modification and then reflected it at the Tehsil (or circle, block or subdivision) level registers. Once it is being approved by competent Authority, it becomes officials. Later the master copy at the district HQ is subsequently updated. The subsequent change in the land records due to sale, deed, mortgage, lease, acquisition, partition, availability of irrigation, crops grown, consolidation, change of land type, partition etc are known as ‘mutation’. Any physical change of land plot due to various possible causes i.e. erosion, earthquake, or otherwise are reflected in it’s cadastral data as well as in the map. Some interesting Land record systems In Arunachal Pradesh land record is maintained only for the Govt. notified land, which accounts only about 10% of the total geographical area. No record has been maintained for private land. The land which has been acquired by the government is mainly located at district headquarters and selected sub divisional headquarters and the land at the village and blocks are yet to be acquired by the government. The Land record office is located at district HQ and sub-division level only and there is no setup at block level. In Mizoram, traditionally land belongs to the Government till it is allotted to citizen. Any citizen who wants to own an unoccupied plot of land has to first obtain a temporary Pass from the Govt. The Pass can be given for a period of time for the citizen; however the Govt has the right to revoke the pass before expiry of the time period. Lucane in Manual Land Record system The existing manual land records maintained by various states are not free from flaws viz. • Lack of standardization: Due to lack of standardization and hand written, sometime it becomes too difficult to retrieve data from land registers. The wear & tear further has worsen it. • Susceptible to manipulation: A nos of voluminous registers are being utilized to maintain land records and it is difficult to trace if any anomalous entry is made. Already a large chunks of land belonging to government, reserve land, forest land , protected area have been manipulated and 73 Adopting E-governance ownership diverted to private owners by land mafia. Poor and under privilege are the worst sufferer as they have little idea about Record of Right. • Unmanageability: Due to population explosion, expansion of cultivable lands and rise of mutation; maintenance of land records has become unmanageable. Manual compilation of records is time consuming and cumbersome. The revenue staffs who are already overloaded are frequently engaged in other activities viz. conduct of elections, relief and rehabilitation, medical camp, implementation of govt schemes, issue of certificates finding it difficult to maintain the onerous land records data. • Difficult to enforce Land Reform Act: Though Govt has taken up series of land reforms for the benefits of landless and under privileges, but due to non availability of land data, it has become daunting task to implement these Act i.e. Ceiling Surplus Land Act, Wasteland and Bhoodan land, Ownership rights to tenants, Prevention of alienation and restoration of alienated tribal land etc. • Unprofessional Land management: The revenue officials responsible to maintain land data i.e. Patwari, Village Accountant, Mandals are from the lowest strata of Govt revenue officials who lacks professionalism to maintain crucial land resources. • Delay in updation: The Land record data at Tehsil and district HQ are not immediately updated leaving land records inconsistent in various hierarchies. • Delay in delivery of land records: The acquiring of a Record of Rights (ROR) could be a nightmare for a public. • Cumbersome Mutation process: The process of mutation is cumbersome. Entertaining of mutation request is virtually at the discretion of village level revenue officials. There is no reporting mechanism about pendency. • Land Resource Management: Manually it is not possible to collate and analyze land resources i.e. soil type, existence of irrigation facility, cropping pattern etc in village/Tehsils/district level which is very valuable for various administrative and developmental purposes. • No linkage with other institutions: The various other institutions i.e. Finance, Judiciary, District administration, various development departments, NGOs, organizations etc for whose accessing land resource data is very